Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Have I told you I love baptisms. We had a special Sunday when we baptized Raylan and her little sister Cecelia
Schmidt. We have been baptizing two at a time recently. They were both dressed in beautiful white gowns. I knew it was going to be a fun one, when they came in on Wednesday to talk about what will happen. Raylan is a little girl with a lot of energy. I was wondering how that would play out on Sunday. She did remarkably well for a little girl who has a whole lot of energy.
Okay, here’s the thing. First of all, we have spent three weeks with Jesus talking to be like children. That doesn’t mean anything goes, but it is hard sometimes to contain all that energy. We also do not have a nursery or a special room where they could go. And if we did, we don’t have any volunteers to watch over the room. Therefore, I think they are in the right place. They are with their parents and in church. I always think what we ask our children to do is more than we ask the adults to do. We ask them to partake in Sunday School for an hour. Then we ask them to sit in church for an hour. We don’t ask our congregation to do this. Hmm. Just thinking.
Oops! I made a mistake. Our Trick and Treat event is on Saturday, October 26 (not 25). Sorry. Please consider buying an extra bag of candy and bring it to the office. It will help out a lot.
Some of you notice that I am not using my microphone for the corporate prayers (ones we say together) and the reading of the psalm. I read that when the pastor uses the microphone for prayers, the congregation does not respond as they would if the pastor didn’t. Trust me, pastor is still saying the prayers, but I am allowing the worship assistant to say them along with the congregation. We will see how it works?
I have an unusual request. Anyone done canning and have extra jars? I am the one who makes giardiniera with our peppers from the garden. I probably need about 5-6 jars and I have used up all of mine. If you have some laying around and you are not going to use them, can I use them for canning? Please let me know via text or email so I don’t get a hundred of them. Either size is fine. The larger one will just cut down how many I need..
It is almost time for the drive-through spaghetti dinner. Tickets are still on sale but get them quickly. I heard they are only going to sell 200 tickets. It is such a great event and it really helps our Sunday school.
For those who are with me in reading the Bible in a Year, you may have noticed that I added a second Monday to our schedule. The church is closed on Monday, October 14. You won’t get the next installment until Tuesday.
You are dearly loved !
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for 21st Week after Pentecost – October 12th & 13th
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Psalm 90:12-17 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31
Reading the Bible in a Year- Monday, October 7th to Monday, October 14th
Day Job Psalms Proverbs Matthew
Monday Ch. 33-34 18-18:36 Ch 23
Tuesday Ch 35-37 4:1-9 Ch 24:1-31
Wednesday Ch 38-40:2 18:37-42 Ch 24:32-25:13
Thursday Ch 40:3-42 18:43-50 Ch 25:14-46
Exodus
Friday Ch 1-3 19:1-6 Ch 26:1-30
Saturday Ch 4-6:12 4:10-19 Ch 26:31-46
Sunday Ch 6:13-8 19:7-14 Ch 26:47-68
Monday Ch. 9 & 10 20 Ch 26:69-27:10
Job – Sometimes Job can be a hard read. But when you get to chapter 42, I feel that it is all worth it. How could Job’s finite mind understand the infinite wisdom of God? How can we? Does anyone have a problem with the ending of Job? I know I do. Do you notice what God never did?
Exodus – Oh, oh. It starts out ominous. A new Pharaoh is now in charge that didn’t know Joseph. It will not be good for the Israelites. They have been very busy multiplying. Apparently that is a problem for the Egyptians. Moses is introduced in this section as well as a number of plagues against the Egyptians. Do you have a problem with God hardening the heart of Pharaoh? I wonder how hard God had to work to do that? How hard does God have to work with hardening our hearts? God’s covenant of the promised land is still intact.
Psalm – Somewhere along the way, I have stopped memorizing Scripture. I’m not proud of this. I definitely need to get back to it. At one time I had Psalm 19 memorized. It just resonated with me.
Proverbs – I remember when I was young, my parents were dumb as rocks. As I grew older and had kids of my own, I couldn’t believe how wise they really were. My title for Proverbs 4 is Parental Advice. I wish I paid attention to this when I was young. It would have taken care of a lot of problems.
Matthew – It might be wise if you kept track of the endings of the Gospels. Pay attention to see how they were similar and how they were different. A question I asked my confirmation class, the other day was does this make one of them wrong? I don’t remember the end-times prophecy from Jesus at the end of Matthew. Took me by surprise. Also, the institution of the Holy Communion. I thought it was only in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11.